Palm Beach Rotary Club provide 20 cooler new homes for Penguin Island’s little penguins

Penguin Island’s feathered residents have new digs that aim to keep them cool in warm weather. The Palm Beach Rotary Club teamed up with penguin scientists to build new and improved nesting boxes for the little penguins living on the island. The club recently delivered 20 new homes to replace older nesting boxes. Nearly 75 boxes have been installed on the island since the Rotarians started their penguin support project in 2018. The new nesting boxes were designed with advice from conservation biologist Erin Clitheroe, who studies the island’s penguins, and provide an inside environment that is eight degrees cooler than the surrounding temperature. Rotary member Rick Dawson said the club used the talents of its members, who include a former draughtsman and former cabinet maker, to lead them in constructing the boxes. He said the design of the newest nesting boxes was chosen because the style had previously been used and appeared to be favoured by the penguins over other types of boxes. The boxes feature duplicated wooden walls that have an effect similar to double-glazed windows. “When it gets very hot — and now, with our changing climate — having nest boxes that keep them cool is making a really big difference,” Mr Dawson said. The nesting boxes are the latest in concerted efforts to conserve the Island’s dwindling little penguin population. The number of penguins on the island fell by 80 per cent from 2007 to 2019, with only around 300 penguins believed to now be on the island. In January, removal of the island’s decommissioned Discovery Centre began in an effort to reduce human impacts on the penguin’s habitat and plans for a boardwalk extension were ditched after campaigning by penguin researchers. Last July, the City of Rockingham approved more funding for a penguin population study. Its results are expected to be published in the next few months.